The modern communications era has brought about a tremendous expansion of wireline and wireless networks. Computer networks, television networks, and telephony networks are experiencing an unprecedented technological expansion, fueled by consumer demand. Wireless and mobile networking technologies have addressed related consumer demands, while providing more flexibility and immediacy of information transfer.
Current and future networking technologies as well as evolved computing devices making use of networking technologies continue to facilitate ease of information transfer and convenience to users. This explosive growth of mobile communications networks has followed the evolution of mobile devices, such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other portable electronic devices from luxury items to ubiquitous devices integrated into the everyday lives of individuals from all walks of life. The widespread adoption of mobile devices and expanding capabilities of the wireless networks over which they communicate has allowed for a tremendous expansion in the functionalities which mobile devices are capable of executing. In addition to providing for phone service, many mobile devices now execute functionalities such as navigation services through the use of GPS, camera and video capturing capabilities, digital music and video playback, and web browsing, which may be facilitated through access to multiple networks provided by one or more radios embodied on mobile devices.
While this expansion in functionality of mobile devices has been revolutionary, it does have a drawback in that each added functionality requires additional power to execute and in some cases, the power consumption of some functionalities, such as, for example, a camera with a flash, GPS receiver, or multiple operational radios so as to facilitate access to cellular networks, wireless local area networks, and/or other networks may be quite substantial. With the prevalence of mobile devices in use today, it can be appreciated that in the aggregate, power consumption by mobile devices in use throughout the world is quite substantial. The power consumed by 10 million mobile devices may total 10,130 megawatt hours of power per year.
Power used to charge the batteries which power mobile devices is often supplied by power grids supplying electricity generated from non-renewable resources, such as fossil fuels. Not only may these non-renewable resources be in short supply, but use of these non-renewable resources to produce electricity for power grids may contribute to global warming and/or otherwise harm the environment. Further, in some regions, power grids may be strained to provide enough power to satisfy power demand. Accordingly, power that could otherwise be used, for example, to heat homes may instead be used to power mobile devices.
Additionally, with increasing media focus on the uncertainty surrounding future environmental conditions, consumers are becoming increasingly eco-conscious and aware of their personal carbon footprints. Accordingly, many consumers aware of measures that they may personally take to reduce environmental impact and conserve energy are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint. If consumers were provided with mobile devices configured to reduce power consumption and were informed about such power reduction, consumers may take steps to reduce power usage in their personal computing devices. Such reductions in power usage by a large community of users may in the aggregate significantly reduce environmental impact, conserve resources, and free up power for use for other purposes, such as heating homes. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for reducing power consumption in computing devices.